Posts Tagged ‘Psalm 100’

The Secret of Happiness
Stand with us in crying out to the Lord

One of my favorite authors over the last few years is Shawn Achor and his books on the happiness. In his books, he gives a number of suggestions based on his exhaustive research regarding how staying positive can fuel success. One of the actions that has proved advantageous is to take some time each day, and think of three things that you are thankful for. Three positive events or experiences during the day. I think that is great advice for all us, especially during this time we are living in. I mean it’s biblical to give thanks, right? “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4 ESV)

I do believe if you take time to give thanks each day it will change your life!

Here’s Shawn Achor’s Ted Talk on YouTube, which is one of most popular Ted Talks.

Shawn Achor – The Secret of Happiness

You can also listen to a longer version through the Entreleadership podcast – Shawn Achor: How Happiness Fuels Your Success.

Be Thankful – Choose to be Happy!
Dawn & I are on this journey together seeking to give thanks each and every day

As I was writing this I realized that I posted Shawn Achor’s talk when we were transitioning from 2015 to 2016. That ended up being the hardest year of my life. Our daughter, Hannah moved to heaven on October 18th of 2016. I would say that 2020 was the second hardest year of my life. Both of my parents died in 2020, and then of course we’ve been dealing with COVID-19 and so much craziness in our nation and world.

Anyway, my point here isn’t to relive my worst years, but to remember things that I’m thankful for in 2020. In my last post I wrote about the good things God did in my family last year. In my next post I’d like to write about what the Lord did in our ministry in 2020. There’s much to be thankful for!

I do want to encourage each of you to choose to be thankful this year, and to remember all the good that God is doing in your life. He is a good God, and his love never fails!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Worship: A Dream Come True

The group that attended the worship workshop in Tijuana

The group that attended the worship workshop in Tijuana

When we first began planning and preparing for our worship workshop there was much excitement. Pastor Tury Nuñez said, “this is a dream come true.” I believed that it could be a game changer for many of our congregations in Tijuana, Ensenada, and Mexicali.

Mark Tedder who leads worship at Village 7 Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs agreed to come and lead a worship workshop for us in Tijuana. Apart from leading worship at Village 7 Mark also has a ministry called, worship planet. Worship planet leads seminars and workshops around the world. Just in this year alone, they’ve already trained worship leaders in China, England and now Mexico.

A Wonderful Team of Worship Leaders

Mark Tedder with his team of worship leaders, Paul Assante, Josh Smith, Mark David, and Lesli and Eric Goetze

Mark Tedder with his team of worship leaders, Paul Assante, Josh Smith, Mark David, and Lesli and Eric Goetze

A group of 5 other musicians and worship leaders came to Tijuana with Mark to form their team. They are all very talented and loving musicians. Dawn and I loved getting to know them.

Mark and his team did a wonderful job leading the group through a variety of exercises and breakout sessions to help them grow and to be better prepared to lead in worship.

Refreshing Time of Worship!

Mark Tedder and Abby Nuñez leading us in worship in Tijuana

Mark Tedder and Abby Nuñez leading us in worship in Tijuana

One of the side benefits for me is that I had some wonderful opportunities to worship. My soul and spirit were filled up daily as we worshipped the Lord together. I didn’t really think of that benefit when we planned everything out. Yet, I found my soul and spirit being drawn into worship. It was a refreshing and uplifting time.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
     Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100:1,2 ESV)

Pray for God’s Continued Work of Renewal in Worship

The group learning about worship through an interactive activity

The group learning about worship through an interactive activity

Our prayer is that those that came to the workshop will continue to improve as they lead in their churches. They learned about flow and how to bring the people into the presence of the Lord.

Pray with us that this will only be the beginning, the first step towards helping these churches have a more vibrant, alive and meaningful worship experiences. We would even pray that the Lord might use humble leaders to aid the churches and the people into worship of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

 

Jon, David, Hannah, Dave & Dawn at Hannah's graduation

Jon, David, Hannah, Dave & Dawn at Hannah’s graduation

Even though I am ending 2012 in bed with a cold, it has been an outstanding year! We have experienced more change this year than we have since we left Mexico in late 1999.

I praise the Lord along with my wife, Dawn, for all He has done in and through us in 2012.

“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”

–Psalm 100:1,2

The biggest event in our lives this past year was selling our house in Colorado and moving to the San Diego-Tijuana border. Dawn and I had been working towards this goal for two years. It took us longer than we thought it would take to sell our house. We know God’s timing is perfect, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to wait.

The wait has made it all the sweeter, though. We love being here, and we are so thrilled with all that God is doing.

After living in Colorado for 12 years it was hard to say good-bye to all our friends. We will always cherish our time in Colorado Springs. God brought healing and provided some wonderful fellow sojourners.

The most difficult thing about leaving Colorado was leaving two of our children, Jonathan and Hannah. We miss them dearly. It’s not easy being instant empty nesters. After all, aren’t we too young for that? 😉

It does make it easier knowing that our loving Father is watching over our children, and caring for them. We are grateful that our oldest son, David Jr. lives close to us as he goes to school in El Cajon at San Diego Christian College.

All three of our kids are doing well and they love the Lord.

  • David is on the student council at his school, and he’s excelling in his courses. When I visited the school recently one of the professors from the school told me David was a high impact student! Thank you Lord!
  • Jonathan began working at Wells Fargo Bank as a teller in June. He just went through their banker’s training, and he is exploring the possibility of getting a job transfer that would put him close to us. O, Lord, we pray you would open the door for that to happen soon.
  • Hannah graduated from high school in May. She is working at Big Lots and going through many adjustments being on her own in Colorado. Hannah will fly out to visit us this next week, so we are super excited about seeing her!

We have much to be thankful for in 2012! Even in the short time Dawn and I have been here, we’ve seen the Lord do some wonderful things. In late October and early November we partnered with Harbor Church and Lo Mejor Del Trigo to start a new church.

God’s encouraged us as we launched the English as a Second Language (ESL) outreach last April. Oliva came to Christ through ESL, and is now growing in her faith. We are getting ready to launch a second ESL class next week.

Dave & Dawn at San Diego Harbor

Wishing You A Happy New Year!

This is only a small sampling of the many marvelous things that God did in 2012. Praise him with us!

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5, ESV)

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org